Liu et al. BMC Psychiatry (2016) 16:142 DOI 10.1186/s12888-016-0845-2
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of autism spectrum disorder in a stratified sampling of preschool teachers in China Yingna Liu1, Jialing Li1, Qiaolan Zheng1, Charles M. Zaroff2, Brian J. Hall2,3, Xiuhong Li4 and Yuantao Hao1*
Abstract Background: In China, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can potentially benefit from universal education policies and recent initiatives designed to address the needs of children with developmental disorders. However, adequate schooling is often unavailable for children with ASD, in part because teachers lack the knowledge and skills needed to work with this population. To better understand the current state of knowledge of ASD in China, we surveyed knowledge and attitudes regarding the disorder in preschool teachers. Methods: A total of 471 preschool teachers in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, China completed questionnaires assessing participant demographics, knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD, attitudes towards ASD, practices and self-perceptions of efficacy in the education of children with ASD, and awareness of organizations and intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD. The correlation between individual- and school-level variables with current knowledge of typical child development and ASD was examined using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The majority (84 %) of participants answered correctly more than half of the questionnaire items assessing understanding of typical child development. In contrast, 83 % provided inaccurate responses to more than half of the questionnaire items assessing knowledge of ASD. Knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD were both associated with geographic region (teachers in Guangzhou had greater knowledge than those in Foshan, p < 0.0001). Knowledge of ASD was also associated with a higher education level (p < 0.05) and school type (p = 0.023). In general, participants believed fairly strongly in the need for greater service provision for children with ASD, and were receptive towards receiving additional specialized training. Most participants were unaware of ASDspecific organizations and empirically validated intervention approaches. Conclusions: Knowledge of ASD is lacking in preschool teachers in China, and greater teacher training and instruction is needed. Nonetheless, teachers report a willingness and motivation to gain the skills needed to maximize the educational experiences of children with ASD. Keywords: Autism, Autism spectrum disorder, China, Chinese, Teacher, Preschool
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 School of Public Health, Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2016 Liu et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Liu et al. BMC Psychiatry (2016) 16:142
Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities [1]. The disorder has a global prevalence of 0.62 % [2], while recent prevalence estimates in the US run as high as 1.4 % [3]. ASD is associated with enormous financial burdens [4], to a far greater extent than that which occurs with other childhood disabilities [5]. However, interventions are available, and can be quite efficacious when applied early in development, leading to improved social communication and social interaction, and even increased IQ scores [6–9]. Prompt intervention is crucial since intensive behavioral interventions may have diminished effectiveness in older children [10, 11]. The implementation of intervention in young children rests upon disorder identification. As such, diagnosis at younger ages plays a crucial role in prognosis and developmental outcomes. Several trends have aided the diagnostic process. While much of the recent increase in prevalence has been attributed to a broadening diagnostic concept and increased ascertainment methods [12, 13], greater awareness of ASD in the general population has also played a contributory role [14, 15], and has been correlated with a younger age at diagnosis [16]. However, this increase in awareness is not universal. In China, while increased understanding of ASD is found among service providers [17], the general population exhibits common inaccurate perceptions concerning disorder etiology and intervention options [18]. Problematic behavior associated with ASD is often attributed to willful disobedience or a disordered personality in China [19]. It is likely that such attributions contribute to delays in help-seeking behavior [18], and are partly responsible for the considerable stigma experienced by families of children with ASD. The relatively low ASD prevalence estimates in China (i.e., 0.11 %) [2, 20] suggest a deficiency in diagnosis, possibly due in part to low levels of awareness in the general population. In sum, these results highlight the urgent need for increased awareness of ASD in China. One segment of society in which this need may be the most acute is teachers. Global policy and Chinese initiatives give great importance to the instruction of children with special needs within regular classrooms [21–23]. Thus, outside of parents and caregivers, teachers are the group most likely to work the closest with children and adolescents with ASD. Teachers have been the focus of much recent research concerning knowledge of and attitudes towards ASD [24–26]. However, much of this research has been gathered in primary and secondary school instructors [23–27], whereas relatively less attention has been devoted to the state of knowledge in preschool teachers
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[28, 29], and overall, little work of its kind has been conducted in China. Not only are increasing numbers of children with ASD being enrolled in mainstream preschool programs [30], but educational programs for children with ASD are often most beneficial when initiated at a younger age [31]. Preschool teachers work with the very population in which timely diagnosis is most likely to lead to a beneficial outcome [32]. As such, their ability to detect developmental anomalies and subsequently provide recommendations to parents and school staff for referral to medical care are invaluable. The study of preschool teacher knowledge and attitudes may further help contribute to a growing body of literature concerning early intervention efforts [28]. Such research may also serve to delineate the impact of policy initiatives in China, which have begun to help address the needs of children with such disorders via expanded financial assistance and more accurate disorder classifications [19]. In the current study, we have adapted survey methods from a study by Lian et al. [28] that assessed preschool teacher knowledge towards ASD in Singapore with psychometric properties validated in pilot studies. One prior pilot study utilized general practitioners [33], and generally found greater knowledge of typical child development relative to knowledge of atypical development manifested in disorders such as ASD and attentional disorders, knowledge that was not associated with either age or gender of the participants. Our research efforts were directed as follows: 1. Assess the knowledge preschool teachers possess regarding typical child development and ASD. 2. Assess individual- and school-level variables associated with an accurate understanding of typical child development and ASD. 3. Assess the attitudes teachers hold toward the needs of children with ASD, and perceptions concerning their own potential role and ability in working with children with ASD. 4. Assess teacher awareness concerning organizations and intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD.
Methods Participants
Ethical approval was obtained by the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-Sen University. Informed consent was obtained prior to study participation. Teachers were free to participate and were informed that a refusal to participate would in no way affect their work status within the school. A total of 471 teachers completed the survey for analysis; out of the total number of potential participants, this represents a 97 % response rate.
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Assessment measures
All questionnaires and individual questionnaire items were adapted for a Chinese cultural context from measures utilized in prior studies assessing awareness of ASD. The questionnaire assessing knowledge of ASD utilized item content from prior studies [18, 28, 34] created for this purpose, and these prior studies generally utilized pilot studies to ensure item clarity and adequate psychometric properties [18, 28, 33]. The questionnaires (Additional files 1 and 2) assessed 1) knowledge of typical child development, 2) attitudes pertaining to the needs of children with ASD, 3) interest and perceived efficacy in working with children with ASD, and, 4) knowledge of organizations and intervention approaches devoted to individuals with ASD, and were adapted from a study of preschool teachers of predominantly Chinese ethnicity in Singapore conducted by Lian et al. [28]. Lian and colleagues designed questionnaire items and conducted a pilot study in a sample of general practitioners [33]. They subsequently refined the measures on the basis of feedback from this pilot study, before utilizing the measures in a second study [28].
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credit. Following the methodology utilized by Lian and colleagues [28], participants were designated as having ‘passed’ the measure if they provided correct responses to more than 50 % of the items (i.e., >7/14). Knowledge of ASD
A questionnaire consisting of 17 true/false statements (with an option for ‘I do not know’) about ASD was administered. Items were derived from prior studies conducted for this purpose [18, 28, 34]. Sample items included, ‘Autism is a developmental disorder’ [correct response = true] and, ‘Children with autism usually grow up to be adults with schizophrenia’ [correct response = false]. One point was awarded for each correct response, whereas omitted responses and those answered, ‘I do not know’ received no credit. Following the methodology utilized by Lian and colleagues, participants were designated as having ‘passed’ the measure if they provided correct responses to more than 50 % of the items. The final two items, as they were used to query participant beliefs concerning the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of ASD to assess the influence of TCM in the understanding of ASD, were omitted from this scoring system.
Participant demographics
Participants completed a questionnaire assessing their age, gender, educational experience, prior experience working with children with special needs, and current school type (Province-, City-, or District-level). Schools are designated types depending on a comparison of factors against a standard, including the number of students per class, area of the school, salary of teachers, and more [35]. Among the factors, Province-level schools must achieve 85 % at the highest rating, City-level schools must achieve 75 %, and District-level schools must achieve 60 % [35]. For example, Province-level schools must provide a greater quality of education of students, such as having fewer students per class and a greater estate area than City- or Districtlevel schools. Consequently, the funding of school types would vary with schools at the Province-level receive higher levels of funding than those at the City-level, which in turn receive greater amounts of funding than those at the District-level. Knowledge of typical child development
A questionnaire consisting of 14 true/false statements (with an option for ‘I do not know’) about typical child development from the study by Lian et al. [28] was utilized. Sample items included, ‘It is normal for a one and a half year-old-child to have already developed a definite hand preference’ [correct response = false] and, ‘All children with speech and language delay should have a hearing test’ [correct response = true]. One point was awarded for each correct response, whereas omitted responses and those answered ‘I do not know’ received no
Attitudes towards the care and education of, and advocacy for, children with ASD
A ten-item questionnaire of attitudes and perceptions was adapted from the survey by Lian et al. [28]. Questionnaire items contained a 5-point Likert scale response system, from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’). Individual items assessed attitudes concerning entitlements for children with ASD (e.g., ‘Preschools should have special education teachers and therapists to provide services for children with special needs’; ‘Parents are responsible for obtaining services for their own children with special needs’). Likert-style responses were averaged for each questionnaire item. Interest and perceived efficacy
An eight-item questionnaire measuring interest and selfperceived efficacy in working with children with ASD was adapted from the study by Lian et al. [28]. Each response was completed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’). Sample items included, ‘I feel equipped to handle children with special needs,’ and, ‘I want to make a difference in the education of children with special needs.’ Likert-style responses were averaged for each questionnaire item. Awareness of organizations devoted to the care of individuals with ASD
A five-item questionnaire was created, assessing awareness of organizations and institutions devoted to the care of individuals with ASD in China. This survey was based
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on a similar questionnaire designed by Lian et al. [28]. In the current study, the institutions chosen for inclusion were specific to those in China, and were chosen for their prominence, and geographic proximity to the schools surveyed. For example, Beijing Stars and Rain provides intensive parent-training, residential facilities, and a preschool program for children with ASD, utilizing principles of applied behavior analysis. While located in Beijing, it has been featured in international media and identified by the Ministry of Education in China as an exemplary institute [36]. In contrast, the Kangna School, the first governmentrun facility in Guangdong province for individuals with ASD, was chosen specifically for its prominence, but also for its proximity to the schools participating in the current study. Similarly, other regional associations, generally privately-funded and attended (e.g., Shenzhen Autism Association; Guangzhou TaiYangChuan Rehabilitation and Education Centre), were also chosen for inclusion. For individual questionnaire items, the number of ‘yes’ responses were summed, and percentages of ‘yes’ responses for each item were calculated. Awareness of intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD
A five-item questionnaire was created, assessing awareness of intervention approaches for use in ASD. This list was partially devised from expert consensus on best practices, such as applied behavior analysis [37], and also from a literature search of practices most commonly utilized in China, such as sensory integration treatment [36]. The number of ‘yes’ responses was summed, and the percentages of ‘yes’ responses for each item were calculated. Procedures
In order to assess legibility, and ensure clarity of translation, pilot data were gathered on the questionnaires in a sample of 26 teachers at a single school in Guangzhou in January of 2013. Feedback from this pilot study concerning item wording was integrated into the final version of the questionnaire items. The questionnaires were then administered to teachers at 21 preschools in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan over the span of eight weeks (April of 2013 to June of 2013). These regions were chosen in order to provide comparison across urban areas situated more internationally, and those situated more regionally. Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province, and China’s third most populous city. Multiple globally ranked institutions of higher learning are situated in this region, suggesting a proximity to centers of research and learning. Thus, in China, when outreach programs provide information about specific instructional methodologies for children with ASD, the common targets of such programs are regions such as
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Guangzhou [38]. In contrast, Foshan is a smaller city lacking access to such services and resources. For example, while the Gross Domestic Product of Guangzhou ranks only behind Shanghai and Beijing, and in terms of recent growth, outpaces both of the aforementioned cities [39], the Gross Domestic Product of Foshan ranks third within Guangdong province itself [40]. Guangzhou consists of 10 separate school districts from which regional governmental permission was solicited. This resulted in the approval for the study of two school districts: Yuexiu District Bureau of Education and Haizhu District Bureau of Education. In Foshan, schools affiliated with the Jiujiang District Bureau of Education participated. Schools were selected via stratified sampling utilizing school-level variables (i.e., Province-level, City-level, District-level). Research assistants reviewed completed questionnaires for item omissions. In the case of item omissions, research assistants returned the questionnaires to teachers with a reminder. Nonetheless, participation in the study was entirely voluntary and an omission of responses was permitted. Statistical analyses
Descriptive statistics were derived for each questionnaire. Following criteria set forth by Lian and colleagues [28], participants were considered to have ‘passed’ the knowledge tests when achieving scores greater than 50 %. Univariate analyses (i.e., t-tests or Analysis of Variance; ANOVA) were utilized to contrast knowledge scores on the basis of demographic variables. A multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the contributions of demographic variables to both knowledge tests, and a score comprised of the sum of performance on the two individual knowledge tests. Significance level was at 0.05 for all analyses. All analyses were carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0.
Results Participant demographics
We invited 483 teachers from Guangzhou and Foshan for participation. We surveyed 474 teachers with 100 % participation but discarded 3 teacher responses due to lack of completion. A total of 471 teachers completed the survey for analysis (Table 1), the overwhelming majority of whom were female. Teachers had an average of 9.89 + 8.14 years of work experience. Teachers generally reported (83 %) receiving formal training in early childhood development. In contrast, while more than half of the sample reported having had work experience with children with special needs, only 16 % had received training to do so.
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Table 1 Participant demographic data Number
Percent
Gender
Table 2 Knowledge of typical child development questionnaire items failed by ≥ 50 % of the sample Question Response
Correct
% correct (95 % CI)
Male
4
70 %) did recognize sensory and auditory integration training. This is not surprising, since relatively few venues are available for applied behavior analysis in China, whereas sensory and auditory integration approaches may be much more commonly utilized [36]. However, the implications of these findings require further research. There has been an acknowledgement by the scientific community of the role sensory deficits/anomalies play in ASD, as evidenced by the decision to include ‘hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input’ for the first time as part of DSM diagnostic criteria [1]. However, while at least in the case of auditory integration training, empirical support in western cultures is lacking [55, 56], research in China has shown preliminary evidence of the benefits of more physically-oriented interventions [57]. Regardless, the current findings do corroborate what has been found in samples of parents of children with ASD in China and teachers globally: they lack knowledge concerning intervention approaches and are often not likely to obtain an assessment, much less initiate a treatment [18, 26]. Overall, the current results further highlight how preschool teachers in China tend to be familiar with aspects of typical child development, but have much less familiarity with the nature and interventions validated for atypical child development. In comparison with a sample of teachers in Singapore [28], teachers in the current sample were much better acquainted with facets of typical child development: 84 % were able to answer greater than 50 % of questions on this topic accurately, whereas in Singapore, only 56 % of teachers were able to do so. However, whereas over 60 % of respondents in Singapore were able to provide accurate responses to more than half of the questions administered pertaining to ASD, only 17 % of the current sample were able to do so. Interestingly, in the study by Lian et al. [28], teachers in Singapore were more willing to allow children with special needs into mainstream classrooms and schools. Differences concerning inclusive education across studies may reflect differences in the understanding of the benefits of inclusive education. On the other hand, teachers in both studies did agree on the need for greater governmental responsibility in the expansion of services and insurance coverage for children with special needs. The current study is not without its limitations. While an attempt was made to compare teachers from a more
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urban and international region with those from a less urban region, the use of Foshan can be criticized. Foshan neighbors Guangzhou and is likely heavily influenced by its neighboring city. Additional work focused on rural regions is recommended, and may incorporate cities in other regions of China. This need is especially important as our current study found that teachers in less resource-rich schools were more familiar with ASD than those from more resource-rich schools. Thus, there may be an interaction between level of school resources, the likelihood of admission for a student with special needs, and subsequent teacher knowledge. Additionally, while a reasonably large number of teachers were surveyed in the current study, teachers from only 2 of 10 districts in Guangzhou were participants. Population-based studies encompassing more than pre-schools may be more representative of the true state of knowledge of ASD within the community.
Conclusion Ultimately, our study corroborates previous findings in China in uncovering a lack of awareness and knowledge concerning ASD in the general population [58]. We found associations between such knowledge and teacher education level and experience as well as geographic location and type of school. Additionally, we found that teachers did in fact recognize their own lack of knowledge of ASD, and that this awareness co-existed with an interest in increasing their knowledge and skills in this area. Lastly, teachers were of the belief that the government should be more involved in the services offered to children with ASD. These results echo calls made elsewhere [59] for the incorporation of programs and educational curricula in teacher-training that focuses on children with special needs. In fact, this topic has come under increasing scrutiny worldwide [28, 59, 60]. It is argued herein that such curricula revisions might have the secondary benefit of adding, in an incremental fashion, to the trend towards earlier diagnoses and intervention, and subsequently, improved outcomes. Ethics approval and consent to participate
We received approval from the Institutional Review board of the Sun Yat-Set University School of Public Health, reference number L2016-045, before proceeding with surveying. Each participant was asked for their consent to participate before answering questions. Consent to publish
Not applicable. Availability of data and materials
All data to support our findings can be found in the manuscript.
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Additional files Additional file 1: Survey-Chinese.docx: Chinese version of administered questionnaire. (DOCX 27 kb) Additional file 2: Survey-English.docx: English version of administered questionnaire. (DOCX 25 kb)
Abbreviations ASD: autism spectrum disorder; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine.
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Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Authors’ contributions We assert that each author has made substantive intellectual contributions to the published study. YL was involved in conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content. JL was involved in analysis and interpretation of data, and revising it critically for important intellectual content. QZ was involved in acquisition of data revisiting the manuscript. BJH was involved in the manuscript preparation, data analysis interpretation, and editing for important intellectual content. XL was involved in guidance of specialized knowledge about child education and involved in study design. CMZ was involved in the manuscript preparation, data analysis interpretation, and editing for important intellectual content. YH made substantial contributions to conception and design, and revising it critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Yuexiu and Haizhu Districts of Guangzhou, and the Jiujiang District of Foshan’s Education Department for their help in connecting us with preschools and teachers willing to participate in our research. We would also like to thank Chuxin Liu, Fengxia Ma, and Shujun Zhou of Sun Yat-Sen University for their help in carrying out the study. We secured no funding for this study. Funding The study was self-funded with no external funding. Author details 1 School of Public Health, Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. 2Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, The University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau (SAR), People’s Republic of China. 3Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. 4School of Public Health, Faculty of Maternal and Child Health, Preventive Medicine Institute, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
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Received: 28 March 2015 Accepted: 4 May 2016
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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Open Access
Knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions of autism spectrum disorder in a stratified sampling of preschool teachers in China Yingna Liu1, Jialing Li1, Qiaolan Zheng1, Charles M. Zaroff2, Brian J. Hall2,3, Xiuhong Li4 and Yuantao Hao1*
Abstract Background: In China, children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can potentially benefit from universal education policies and recent initiatives designed to address the needs of children with developmental disorders. However, adequate schooling is often unavailable for children with ASD, in part because teachers lack the knowledge and skills needed to work with this population. To better understand the current state of knowledge of ASD in China, we surveyed knowledge and attitudes regarding the disorder in preschool teachers. Methods: A total of 471 preschool teachers in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan, China completed questionnaires assessing participant demographics, knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD, attitudes towards ASD, practices and self-perceptions of efficacy in the education of children with ASD, and awareness of organizations and intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD. The correlation between individual- and school-level variables with current knowledge of typical child development and ASD was examined using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: The majority (84 %) of participants answered correctly more than half of the questionnaire items assessing understanding of typical child development. In contrast, 83 % provided inaccurate responses to more than half of the questionnaire items assessing knowledge of ASD. Knowledge of typical child development and knowledge of ASD were both associated with geographic region (teachers in Guangzhou had greater knowledge than those in Foshan, p < 0.0001). Knowledge of ASD was also associated with a higher education level (p < 0.05) and school type (p = 0.023). In general, participants believed fairly strongly in the need for greater service provision for children with ASD, and were receptive towards receiving additional specialized training. Most participants were unaware of ASDspecific organizations and empirically validated intervention approaches. Conclusions: Knowledge of ASD is lacking in preschool teachers in China, and greater teacher training and instruction is needed. Nonetheless, teachers report a willingness and motivation to gain the skills needed to maximize the educational experiences of children with ASD. Keywords: Autism, Autism spectrum disorder, China, Chinese, Teacher, Preschool
* Correspondence: [email protected] 1 School of Public Health, Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China Full list of author information is available at the end of the article © 2016 Liu et al. Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
Liu et al. BMC Psychiatry (2016) 16:142
Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by persistent deficits in social communication and social interaction, and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior, interests, or activities [1]. The disorder has a global prevalence of 0.62 % [2], while recent prevalence estimates in the US run as high as 1.4 % [3]. ASD is associated with enormous financial burdens [4], to a far greater extent than that which occurs with other childhood disabilities [5]. However, interventions are available, and can be quite efficacious when applied early in development, leading to improved social communication and social interaction, and even increased IQ scores [6–9]. Prompt intervention is crucial since intensive behavioral interventions may have diminished effectiveness in older children [10, 11]. The implementation of intervention in young children rests upon disorder identification. As such, diagnosis at younger ages plays a crucial role in prognosis and developmental outcomes. Several trends have aided the diagnostic process. While much of the recent increase in prevalence has been attributed to a broadening diagnostic concept and increased ascertainment methods [12, 13], greater awareness of ASD in the general population has also played a contributory role [14, 15], and has been correlated with a younger age at diagnosis [16]. However, this increase in awareness is not universal. In China, while increased understanding of ASD is found among service providers [17], the general population exhibits common inaccurate perceptions concerning disorder etiology and intervention options [18]. Problematic behavior associated with ASD is often attributed to willful disobedience or a disordered personality in China [19]. It is likely that such attributions contribute to delays in help-seeking behavior [18], and are partly responsible for the considerable stigma experienced by families of children with ASD. The relatively low ASD prevalence estimates in China (i.e., 0.11 %) [2, 20] suggest a deficiency in diagnosis, possibly due in part to low levels of awareness in the general population. In sum, these results highlight the urgent need for increased awareness of ASD in China. One segment of society in which this need may be the most acute is teachers. Global policy and Chinese initiatives give great importance to the instruction of children with special needs within regular classrooms [21–23]. Thus, outside of parents and caregivers, teachers are the group most likely to work the closest with children and adolescents with ASD. Teachers have been the focus of much recent research concerning knowledge of and attitudes towards ASD [24–26]. However, much of this research has been gathered in primary and secondary school instructors [23–27], whereas relatively less attention has been devoted to the state of knowledge in preschool teachers
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[28, 29], and overall, little work of its kind has been conducted in China. Not only are increasing numbers of children with ASD being enrolled in mainstream preschool programs [30], but educational programs for children with ASD are often most beneficial when initiated at a younger age [31]. Preschool teachers work with the very population in which timely diagnosis is most likely to lead to a beneficial outcome [32]. As such, their ability to detect developmental anomalies and subsequently provide recommendations to parents and school staff for referral to medical care are invaluable. The study of preschool teacher knowledge and attitudes may further help contribute to a growing body of literature concerning early intervention efforts [28]. Such research may also serve to delineate the impact of policy initiatives in China, which have begun to help address the needs of children with such disorders via expanded financial assistance and more accurate disorder classifications [19]. In the current study, we have adapted survey methods from a study by Lian et al. [28] that assessed preschool teacher knowledge towards ASD in Singapore with psychometric properties validated in pilot studies. One prior pilot study utilized general practitioners [33], and generally found greater knowledge of typical child development relative to knowledge of atypical development manifested in disorders such as ASD and attentional disorders, knowledge that was not associated with either age or gender of the participants. Our research efforts were directed as follows: 1. Assess the knowledge preschool teachers possess regarding typical child development and ASD. 2. Assess individual- and school-level variables associated with an accurate understanding of typical child development and ASD. 3. Assess the attitudes teachers hold toward the needs of children with ASD, and perceptions concerning their own potential role and ability in working with children with ASD. 4. Assess teacher awareness concerning organizations and intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD.
Methods Participants
Ethical approval was obtained by the School of Public Health at Sun Yat-Sen University. Informed consent was obtained prior to study participation. Teachers were free to participate and were informed that a refusal to participate would in no way affect their work status within the school. A total of 471 teachers completed the survey for analysis; out of the total number of potential participants, this represents a 97 % response rate.
Liu et al. BMC Psychiatry (2016) 16:142
Assessment measures
All questionnaires and individual questionnaire items were adapted for a Chinese cultural context from measures utilized in prior studies assessing awareness of ASD. The questionnaire assessing knowledge of ASD utilized item content from prior studies [18, 28, 34] created for this purpose, and these prior studies generally utilized pilot studies to ensure item clarity and adequate psychometric properties [18, 28, 33]. The questionnaires (Additional files 1 and 2) assessed 1) knowledge of typical child development, 2) attitudes pertaining to the needs of children with ASD, 3) interest and perceived efficacy in working with children with ASD, and, 4) knowledge of organizations and intervention approaches devoted to individuals with ASD, and were adapted from a study of preschool teachers of predominantly Chinese ethnicity in Singapore conducted by Lian et al. [28]. Lian and colleagues designed questionnaire items and conducted a pilot study in a sample of general practitioners [33]. They subsequently refined the measures on the basis of feedback from this pilot study, before utilizing the measures in a second study [28].
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credit. Following the methodology utilized by Lian and colleagues [28], participants were designated as having ‘passed’ the measure if they provided correct responses to more than 50 % of the items (i.e., >7/14). Knowledge of ASD
A questionnaire consisting of 17 true/false statements (with an option for ‘I do not know’) about ASD was administered. Items were derived from prior studies conducted for this purpose [18, 28, 34]. Sample items included, ‘Autism is a developmental disorder’ [correct response = true] and, ‘Children with autism usually grow up to be adults with schizophrenia’ [correct response = false]. One point was awarded for each correct response, whereas omitted responses and those answered, ‘I do not know’ received no credit. Following the methodology utilized by Lian and colleagues, participants were designated as having ‘passed’ the measure if they provided correct responses to more than 50 % of the items. The final two items, as they were used to query participant beliefs concerning the use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in the treatment of ASD to assess the influence of TCM in the understanding of ASD, were omitted from this scoring system.
Participant demographics
Participants completed a questionnaire assessing their age, gender, educational experience, prior experience working with children with special needs, and current school type (Province-, City-, or District-level). Schools are designated types depending on a comparison of factors against a standard, including the number of students per class, area of the school, salary of teachers, and more [35]. Among the factors, Province-level schools must achieve 85 % at the highest rating, City-level schools must achieve 75 %, and District-level schools must achieve 60 % [35]. For example, Province-level schools must provide a greater quality of education of students, such as having fewer students per class and a greater estate area than City- or Districtlevel schools. Consequently, the funding of school types would vary with schools at the Province-level receive higher levels of funding than those at the City-level, which in turn receive greater amounts of funding than those at the District-level. Knowledge of typical child development
A questionnaire consisting of 14 true/false statements (with an option for ‘I do not know’) about typical child development from the study by Lian et al. [28] was utilized. Sample items included, ‘It is normal for a one and a half year-old-child to have already developed a definite hand preference’ [correct response = false] and, ‘All children with speech and language delay should have a hearing test’ [correct response = true]. One point was awarded for each correct response, whereas omitted responses and those answered ‘I do not know’ received no
Attitudes towards the care and education of, and advocacy for, children with ASD
A ten-item questionnaire of attitudes and perceptions was adapted from the survey by Lian et al. [28]. Questionnaire items contained a 5-point Likert scale response system, from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’). Individual items assessed attitudes concerning entitlements for children with ASD (e.g., ‘Preschools should have special education teachers and therapists to provide services for children with special needs’; ‘Parents are responsible for obtaining services for their own children with special needs’). Likert-style responses were averaged for each questionnaire item. Interest and perceived efficacy
An eight-item questionnaire measuring interest and selfperceived efficacy in working with children with ASD was adapted from the study by Lian et al. [28]. Each response was completed on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (‘strongly disagree’) to 5 (‘strongly agree’). Sample items included, ‘I feel equipped to handle children with special needs,’ and, ‘I want to make a difference in the education of children with special needs.’ Likert-style responses were averaged for each questionnaire item. Awareness of organizations devoted to the care of individuals with ASD
A five-item questionnaire was created, assessing awareness of organizations and institutions devoted to the care of individuals with ASD in China. This survey was based
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on a similar questionnaire designed by Lian et al. [28]. In the current study, the institutions chosen for inclusion were specific to those in China, and were chosen for their prominence, and geographic proximity to the schools surveyed. For example, Beijing Stars and Rain provides intensive parent-training, residential facilities, and a preschool program for children with ASD, utilizing principles of applied behavior analysis. While located in Beijing, it has been featured in international media and identified by the Ministry of Education in China as an exemplary institute [36]. In contrast, the Kangna School, the first governmentrun facility in Guangdong province for individuals with ASD, was chosen specifically for its prominence, but also for its proximity to the schools participating in the current study. Similarly, other regional associations, generally privately-funded and attended (e.g., Shenzhen Autism Association; Guangzhou TaiYangChuan Rehabilitation and Education Centre), were also chosen for inclusion. For individual questionnaire items, the number of ‘yes’ responses were summed, and percentages of ‘yes’ responses for each item were calculated. Awareness of intervention approaches devoted to the care of individuals with ASD
A five-item questionnaire was created, assessing awareness of intervention approaches for use in ASD. This list was partially devised from expert consensus on best practices, such as applied behavior analysis [37], and also from a literature search of practices most commonly utilized in China, such as sensory integration treatment [36]. The number of ‘yes’ responses was summed, and the percentages of ‘yes’ responses for each item were calculated. Procedures
In order to assess legibility, and ensure clarity of translation, pilot data were gathered on the questionnaires in a sample of 26 teachers at a single school in Guangzhou in January of 2013. Feedback from this pilot study concerning item wording was integrated into the final version of the questionnaire items. The questionnaires were then administered to teachers at 21 preschools in the cities of Guangzhou and Foshan over the span of eight weeks (April of 2013 to June of 2013). These regions were chosen in order to provide comparison across urban areas situated more internationally, and those situated more regionally. Guangzhou is the capital of Guangdong province, and China’s third most populous city. Multiple globally ranked institutions of higher learning are situated in this region, suggesting a proximity to centers of research and learning. Thus, in China, when outreach programs provide information about specific instructional methodologies for children with ASD, the common targets of such programs are regions such as
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Guangzhou [38]. In contrast, Foshan is a smaller city lacking access to such services and resources. For example, while the Gross Domestic Product of Guangzhou ranks only behind Shanghai and Beijing, and in terms of recent growth, outpaces both of the aforementioned cities [39], the Gross Domestic Product of Foshan ranks third within Guangdong province itself [40]. Guangzhou consists of 10 separate school districts from which regional governmental permission was solicited. This resulted in the approval for the study of two school districts: Yuexiu District Bureau of Education and Haizhu District Bureau of Education. In Foshan, schools affiliated with the Jiujiang District Bureau of Education participated. Schools were selected via stratified sampling utilizing school-level variables (i.e., Province-level, City-level, District-level). Research assistants reviewed completed questionnaires for item omissions. In the case of item omissions, research assistants returned the questionnaires to teachers with a reminder. Nonetheless, participation in the study was entirely voluntary and an omission of responses was permitted. Statistical analyses
Descriptive statistics were derived for each questionnaire. Following criteria set forth by Lian and colleagues [28], participants were considered to have ‘passed’ the knowledge tests when achieving scores greater than 50 %. Univariate analyses (i.e., t-tests or Analysis of Variance; ANOVA) were utilized to contrast knowledge scores on the basis of demographic variables. A multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the contributions of demographic variables to both knowledge tests, and a score comprised of the sum of performance on the two individual knowledge tests. Significance level was at 0.05 for all analyses. All analyses were carried out using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0.
Results Participant demographics
We invited 483 teachers from Guangzhou and Foshan for participation. We surveyed 474 teachers with 100 % participation but discarded 3 teacher responses due to lack of completion. A total of 471 teachers completed the survey for analysis (Table 1), the overwhelming majority of whom were female. Teachers had an average of 9.89 + 8.14 years of work experience. Teachers generally reported (83 %) receiving formal training in early childhood development. In contrast, while more than half of the sample reported having had work experience with children with special needs, only 16 % had received training to do so.
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Table 1 Participant demographic data Number
Percent
Gender
Table 2 Knowledge of typical child development questionnaire items failed by ≥ 50 % of the sample Question Response
Correct
% correct (95 % CI)
Male
4
70 %) did recognize sensory and auditory integration training. This is not surprising, since relatively few venues are available for applied behavior analysis in China, whereas sensory and auditory integration approaches may be much more commonly utilized [36]. However, the implications of these findings require further research. There has been an acknowledgement by the scientific community of the role sensory deficits/anomalies play in ASD, as evidenced by the decision to include ‘hyper- or hyporeactivity to sensory input’ for the first time as part of DSM diagnostic criteria [1]. However, while at least in the case of auditory integration training, empirical support in western cultures is lacking [55, 56], research in China has shown preliminary evidence of the benefits of more physically-oriented interventions [57]. Regardless, the current findings do corroborate what has been found in samples of parents of children with ASD in China and teachers globally: they lack knowledge concerning intervention approaches and are often not likely to obtain an assessment, much less initiate a treatment [18, 26]. Overall, the current results further highlight how preschool teachers in China tend to be familiar with aspects of typical child development, but have much less familiarity with the nature and interventions validated for atypical child development. In comparison with a sample of teachers in Singapore [28], teachers in the current sample were much better acquainted with facets of typical child development: 84 % were able to answer greater than 50 % of questions on this topic accurately, whereas in Singapore, only 56 % of teachers were able to do so. However, whereas over 60 % of respondents in Singapore were able to provide accurate responses to more than half of the questions administered pertaining to ASD, only 17 % of the current sample were able to do so. Interestingly, in the study by Lian et al. [28], teachers in Singapore were more willing to allow children with special needs into mainstream classrooms and schools. Differences concerning inclusive education across studies may reflect differences in the understanding of the benefits of inclusive education. On the other hand, teachers in both studies did agree on the need for greater governmental responsibility in the expansion of services and insurance coverage for children with special needs. The current study is not without its limitations. While an attempt was made to compare teachers from a more
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urban and international region with those from a less urban region, the use of Foshan can be criticized. Foshan neighbors Guangzhou and is likely heavily influenced by its neighboring city. Additional work focused on rural regions is recommended, and may incorporate cities in other regions of China. This need is especially important as our current study found that teachers in less resource-rich schools were more familiar with ASD than those from more resource-rich schools. Thus, there may be an interaction between level of school resources, the likelihood of admission for a student with special needs, and subsequent teacher knowledge. Additionally, while a reasonably large number of teachers were surveyed in the current study, teachers from only 2 of 10 districts in Guangzhou were participants. Population-based studies encompassing more than pre-schools may be more representative of the true state of knowledge of ASD within the community.
Conclusion Ultimately, our study corroborates previous findings in China in uncovering a lack of awareness and knowledge concerning ASD in the general population [58]. We found associations between such knowledge and teacher education level and experience as well as geographic location and type of school. Additionally, we found that teachers did in fact recognize their own lack of knowledge of ASD, and that this awareness co-existed with an interest in increasing their knowledge and skills in this area. Lastly, teachers were of the belief that the government should be more involved in the services offered to children with ASD. These results echo calls made elsewhere [59] for the incorporation of programs and educational curricula in teacher-training that focuses on children with special needs. In fact, this topic has come under increasing scrutiny worldwide [28, 59, 60]. It is argued herein that such curricula revisions might have the secondary benefit of adding, in an incremental fashion, to the trend towards earlier diagnoses and intervention, and subsequently, improved outcomes. Ethics approval and consent to participate
We received approval from the Institutional Review board of the Sun Yat-Set University School of Public Health, reference number L2016-045, before proceeding with surveying. Each participant was asked for their consent to participate before answering questions. Consent to publish
Not applicable. Availability of data and materials
All data to support our findings can be found in the manuscript.
Liu et al. BMC Psychiatry (2016) 16:142
Additional files Additional file 1: Survey-Chinese.docx: Chinese version of administered questionnaire. (DOCX 27 kb) Additional file 2: Survey-English.docx: English version of administered questionnaire. (DOCX 25 kb)
Abbreviations ASD: autism spectrum disorder; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine.
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Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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Authors’ contributions We assert that each author has made substantive intellectual contributions to the published study. YL was involved in conception and design, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation of data, drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content. JL was involved in analysis and interpretation of data, and revising it critically for important intellectual content. QZ was involved in acquisition of data revisiting the manuscript. BJH was involved in the manuscript preparation, data analysis interpretation, and editing for important intellectual content. XL was involved in guidance of specialized knowledge about child education and involved in study design. CMZ was involved in the manuscript preparation, data analysis interpretation, and editing for important intellectual content. YH made substantial contributions to conception and design, and revising it critically for important intellectual content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Acknowledgements We would like to thank the Yuexiu and Haizhu Districts of Guangzhou, and the Jiujiang District of Foshan’s Education Department for their help in connecting us with preschools and teachers willing to participate in our research. We would also like to thank Chuxin Liu, Fengxia Ma, and Shujun Zhou of Sun Yat-Sen University for their help in carrying out the study. We secured no funding for this study. Funding The study was self-funded with no external funding. Author details 1 School of Public Health, Department of Medical Statistics and Epidemiology, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China. 2Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Psychology, The University of Macau, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macau (SAR), People’s Republic of China. 3Department of Health, Behavior and Society, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA. 4School of Public Health, Faculty of Maternal and Child Health, Preventive Medicine Institute, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, China.
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Received: 28 March 2015 Accepted: 4 May 2016
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